Shooting Stars (Falling Skies)
by RoadTripsToTheStars
Summary: The story starts with a mixture between Ben's Life before the invasion & after, the idea will mostly be explained in the first chapter "That's why it's a bit long & into the point" however I've to say the story isn't mainly about romance, it's about Ben, his spikes, Mia, Hal,Karen & Lucas *The story takes place between the 2nd & 3rd season "Best part of the series from my opinion"
1. Between the Walls of the Medical Room

"Faster... faster" Anne added worriedly while pushing a gurney through one of the building halls with the help of Anthony and other people

"Ben? What happened to him?" Hal joined and started to push the gurney with them

"We were attacked by six Esphenis, we tried to escape but one of them caught up with him and I think he was bitten then he fell recklessly on his head" Anthony replied

"Shouldn't his spikes be healing him" Hal turned to Anne

"Well I haven't examined him yet, but let's hope you're right" the doctor answered and they placed Ben on one of the beds in the medical room

"So?" Hal asked with concern

"Well it will be hard to tell with the lack of suitable equipment, but I believe it's concussion" Anne answered while examining Ben

"Ben" Tom came in and placed his hand on Ben's head "How is he?"

"He should be fine I think he's already healing, give him some time to rest" she placed her hand on Tom's shoulder

"I will stay here beside him" he grabbed a chair

"Ben! wake up, come on you will be late"

"Mom?" Ben whispered clearly having hallucinations

"Ben?" Tom wandered

"Well he's burning"Anne said placing her hand on the boy's forehead "It's normal, it's gonna be a rough night, let's hope he gets better by tomorrow"

"Mom" he whispered again

"Come on you're usually not that lazy, that's Hal's job" she said calling out from the kitchen

"I heard that" Hal mocked then grabbed an apple

"Fine, I am awake" Ben shouted then joined them in a while

"Were you staying up all night reading again?" Rebecca wandered

"I am sorry, anyway I gotta go Nick just texted"

"Well Rita is here too, so I am going as well" both guys departed from the house meeting their company

"Hey man" Ben greeted his friend

"Hey"

"So what is it? you said you have good news" Ben asked curiously

"Well you will never believe who joined our book club" Nick replied proudly

"Mia White?"

"Bingo, I saw her name yesterday on the new interns list"

"So I will see her today"

"No, no ,noooo Ben, she's dating Lucas Haynes captain of the lacrosse team, his fist is almost your skull size"

"Nick it's okay I am just happy" they resumed walking

..

"How's he?" Matt came in

"I think he's better, what is it?"

"Captain Weaver wants to see you"

"Fine,take care of your brother for me" he asked his youngest son who nodded then left

"Mia?" Ben called out then drowned in his hallucinations one more time "Mia, hey" he walked to a girl

"Ben, hi" she replied smiling

"Mia, aren't you coming?" couple of girls asked

"I will follow you in a second, what is it?" she turned back to Ben

"Well umm we will meet today at four for the book club"

"Wasn't it supposed to be held at three?"

"Yes, but if it's a problem then.."

"It's okay I will just miss Lucas training, but I have to warn you though I wouldn't be able to attend a lot of meetings in the future"

"Why is that?"

"Well, I have a busy schedule gymnastics, studying and I even go hunting sometimes with my dad"

"Hey babe" Lucas interrupted then kissed her "Let's go"

"Well thanks for telling me Ben I will see you later" they both walked away "Can you like at least say hi to him?" Ben could hear them then their voices faded away

...

"Matt where's dad?" Hal asked his youngest brother

"Captain Weaver asked to see him, so he left"

"How's he?" Hal asked referring to Ben

"He keeps saying stuff that I don't get"

"He will be fine, I will go meet with dad and the others" Hal left his two younger brothers and Matt turned to his brother who started to hallucinate again

"I just didn't take Hal for Harry Potter" Mia said laughing

"Well in his defense he would fall asleep after five minutes" Ben persumed

"Who would know maybe Lord Voldemort bewitched your brother" they both laughed

"You're heading to Lacrosse's training right?"

"Yeah, hopefully they will still be training though"

"Mind if I bust in?"

"No, you wanna see Hal?"

"Yeah sure" they both walked to the school stadium and waited by one of the benches, a few minutes later Lucas glanced her and Mia waved to him

"So you have mentioned that you go haunting with your dad" Ben spoke up in an attempt to make a conversation

"Yeah, it's been our thing since I was four"

"So you can shoot?"

"Yeah, last time I even hit more targets than him, what about you do you ever try any of these stuff?"

"I threw up on Hal one time when we went camping" they both laughed "So you want to be an FBI agent or something in the future"

"No, my mother wants me to be doctor since all of her family female members have a medical career but I want something else that I don't know yet maybe a berserker or something"

"Hey Hal" Lucas called his teammate still observing Ben and Mia

"What?" he said trying to catch his breath from running

"give me the ball, I wanna try something" Lucas took the ball and threw it in Ben's direction, it didn't hit him though but was very close which left Ben in shock and Mia furious

"What the hell man!" Hal shouted

"Relax Mason, it's just a warning"

...

"Move him come on, 1...2...3" Anne came in the room with Tom and three other other men with injured Tector

"What happened?" Matt walked to them

"Esh..ph.. they we..re" Tector tried to speak

"Your arm is bleeding heavily, try not to speak" Anne ordered while checking his injuries

"No..no I ha...ve to... Po...pe... Sh..Shoo..ter they.. tr..app..ed..i..n..o" he blacked out

"What happened to Shooter? where is she trapped?" Anne unwisely started to ask Tector who DEFINITELY couldn't hear her

"Anne calm down" Weaver came in "What did he say?"

"Apparently Pope and Shooter are trapped somewhere" Tom replied

"Don't worry Anne, at least we know they're still alive, send a rescue team to the weapon's factory" Weaver ordered Tom

"I will lead them, I will take Hal, Maggie and Denny , don't worry Anne" Tom left

"Stop interfering in my Life Hal" Ben said shouting clearly still hallucinating

"Ben?" Weaver wandered and Anne walked towards him and checked his temperature "he's still burning, Lourdes prepare the ice bath we have to move him"

"Lucas will not stand back and watch you hit on his girlfriend" Hal shouted following his brother to his room

"We were just talking Hal"

"Ben you had a crush on her since you were nine and I get it she's amazing but that's enough"

"What is it now boys?" their mom came in

"Nothing" Ben left the house and started walking till he randomly found Mia sitting with Lucas in his car

"What was I supposed to do Mia? you show up late for my training that you have never missed with him and you kept laughing all the time" Lucas placed his hand on hers

"We are good friends Lucas and I don't care about your opinion of Ben but you should trust me, if I wanna be with Ben then I will simply tell you that we should break up so I can start dating him" she moved her hand away

"You're right, I am sorry I just love you so much Mia and I don't want to lose you to anyone"

"I love you too, and you don't have to worry about Ben or anyone else" they both started to kiss until Lucas glanced Ben watching them

"What are you doing here?" Lucas got out of his car and walked towards Ben

"Lucas!" Mia followed him "Come on, let's go please" but Lucas had already walked to Ben and punched him "Lucas, that's enough" she walked towards Ben and helped him up

"He's the one who has bee..."

"Stop!, just go, I will see you tomorrow "Lucas was interrupted by Mia then got into his car angrily and left "Are you okay?"

"Mia I like you and what you said about leaving Lucas earlier, that's what I want you to do"

"Ben, Lucas is my boyfriend and I love him" she took a few steps back "I will walk you to Nick's house okay"

"Just tell me one thing Mia if Lucas wasn't in your life, would you ever think of me?"

"Ben I never thought of you this way, we were always friends, I think we need to stop talking for a while " she replied and Ben started to walk away

"Ben?"

"Ben... Ben" a voice called out and it was Anne who was actually calling out not Mia

"Where am I?"

"You had a fever Ben, try to get some rest" Anne explained and he went back to sleep "Well his fever is gone" she said to Lourdes while placing her hand on his forehead

"They're back, dad and Hal" Matt announced then left in a hurry followed by Anne and Lourdes

"Tom?" she hugged him "Is she okay?"

"She is, Hal told her about Ben so she went to the medical room" he replied

"I didn't see her, well I will go check on her" she walked to the medical room where a girl was standing by Ben

"Ben" she whispered then slept beside him which triggered a lot of Ben's memories

"Yes, he's studying here with me Mrs. Mason" Nick was on the phone then turned to Ben who was placing some ice on his right cheek

"What is that?" Ben wandered looking out the window

"Is that a spaceship?"

"MIAAA" Ben ran outside the house

...

"But you like Shooter right?" Denny teased and Ben blushed "That's what I thought"

...

"What about the heroes?" Matt asked

"Naaah, too many high expectations" Pope mocked

"Fighters!" Lyle added

"Sounds like a Hollywood movie name" Pope replied

"What about Berserkers?" Ben suggested

...

"She might be a teenage girl but she's the best shooter we have!" Tom argued with Pope

"Fine, tell shooter she can join the Berserkers" Pope left

...

"He's waking up" a voice appeared and Ben opened his eyes

"Dad? how long was I out"

"Well almost two days now"

"Where's shooter?"

"She was here all night, Matt can you ask Anne where's her niece?"

"I am here" a girl came in and it's revealed that Mia and Shooter is actually the same person

"Come on Matt" Tom left a long with his son leaving alone

"What happened you back there? Aunt Anne said you were bitten by a harnessed kid" she hugged him

"Not just any kid" Ben took a deep breath "It was Lucas, Mia"


	2. If All Goes well

"Whenever I consider how people paid so much attention to stuff like cellphones and new brands but so little to what is actually important like how clear the sky was once compared to what we have now I realize that maybe it wasn't all bad, the price was so high though" Mia smiled by her silly thought

"You know this is not fair, right?" a voice appeared and Mia's silly smile changed to an actual one as she could easily determine it's Ben

"What is?"she asked and Ben sat next to her on a building's roof

"You, coming to MY secret place that I CLAIMED" the teenage replied with a proud tune

"Well apologies Christopher Columbus" she teased him back

"So What is it? Matt said you were searching for me" Ben shifted his funny attitude to a serious one

"Well yeah, the thing is you haven't had any partner since Jimmy's death upon your request, sometimes you team up with Hal, Denny and random people but ..."

"No Mia"Ben interrupted "You're not going to leave the berserkers and team up with me, you're the last person I would like to endanger"he explained

"I will feel way better this way, knowing that we both have each other's back, beside can you hear yourself Ben? endanger yourself and leave the beserekers! seriously Pope is my leader, you're literally saving me from Bazinga train here"the girl mocked but Ben remained silent "Pweez?" she made a puppy face in an attempt to convince him

"Fine, you may join me" he added with a proud tune again

"Hey guys!" Matt called, standing by the staircase

"So much for a secret place" Ben complained

"What is it Matty?" the girl walked to the youngest Mason

"Captain Weaver and Dad are having a meeting with all the militia and they asked me to tell you" Matt informed

"Come here" Ben grabbed Matt and carried him on his back till they reached the meeting room " Thank you for informing us officer Matt" he gave him an army salute then entered the room with Mia "I am sorry" Ben apologized for being late and Captain Weaver nodded

"Uhm, as we were saying, we are shorten on weapons especially that the berserkers's failed yesterday to bring anything, but that's not the only danger we 're facing according to Anthony there's a Harnessing facility 5 km to the west" Tom drew a circle on the map to point out the Harnessing facility's location

"I think we should start by the weapon factory tonight then we can easily take down the facility" Hal suggested and Weaver placed his hand on his chin and started to consider Hal's words

"More kids will be harnessed by then, beside it will be impossible take down the factory with their presence" Tom spoke up

"Your father is right Hal, we will be fighting two enemies at the same time if they decide to show up, espacially that we lack weapons too" Weaver added

"I think we should take both of them by tonight" Maggie started to explain and everyone paid attention "We have enough weapons to take down the facility and keep the harnessed kids busy, yes we might need more weapons which can be provided by the other team in the factory to back us up, beside they don't have to take the whole place down just some weapons to back us up for now"

"What about Charleston? someone has to be here in case someone attacks" Hal wandered "We can't afford to divide our forces or the weapons into three teams"

"We don't have to, I know it's risky but what we faced yesterday at the weapon factory was a trap, I am sure it wasn't set by the espheni or the harnessed kids" Mia explained

"You mean they were humans?" the leader asked

"I believe so, there's no need for a team I think me and Ben can take them with some rebellion skitters and the rest of the skitters can stay here with Denny and some forces to protect the town, they wouldn't need any weapons and there will be enough forces to take down the facility" Mia explained further

"What do you think Pope?" Weaver turned to the berserekers's leader

"I agree with prom queen here, we haven't seen any esphenis yesterday or any harnessed kids" he replied

"Well Denny and I can't go anyway because they will sense our presence and we will ruin the element of surprise however after you attack we can join you and back you up with the weapons" Ben turned his sight to his dad

"It's risky, if anything goes wrong it might kill us all" Weaver clearly was against the whole idea

"Well we don't have many options here, I believe it depends on your opinion guys" Tom asked the militia members and most of them nodded "Ben, Shooter can you do it?"

Ben turned his sight to Mia who nodded and smiled "Yeah, sure we will bring as many weapons as we can to back you up"Ben answered confidently

"Fine, team Alpha will be under Tom's leadership, as for team Beta Ben you're in charge, and I will stay here with Denny and some men in the addition to the rebellion skitters to protect the town" Weaver ordered which indicated that the meeting is over so they all walked out of the room

"I should be going now, to inform the Skitter rebellion leader with our plan" Ben explained to his girlfriend

"Yeah I figured, see you at six?" she asked referring to the timing of the plan

"It's a date" he smiled then left

"Mia?" the girl turned around and it was Anne calling out for her but she simply ignored her and continued walking

"Mia, I am talking to you" Anne shouted and grabbed her arm trying to stop her "You didn't come for an examination after your incident"

"Anne, Doctor Glass you have nothing to do with me or my health, honestly I only spoke to you yesterday because I had to check on Ben and this is probably the only reason we will ever talk, now excuse me cause I have loads of stuff to attend to" she moved her arm then walked away "And my name is Shooter" she added the resumed walking

* * *

 **Author's Note: Please tell me what do you think of the story so far or add any suggestions, whether it's good or bad I want nothing more than to improve my skills ^_^**


	3. What We Planned & What Actually Happened

"Okay Hal, one last time, we'll attack the main entrance from a proper distance which will draw the attention of the Skitters guarding the back" Tom started to explain the plan one more time

"And we will sneak slowly from the back door to get the harnessed kids out then we will take them to the meeting point where we will meet with team Beta,I know dad don't worry" Hal interrupted his dad and proceeded with the plan himself

"And there will be absolutely no engaging with the enemy except when you return with your brother and the weapons they will provide after you meet up with them" Tom added

"Roger, Come on it wouldn't be the first time, I saved Ben once with only a knife in my hand" Hal bragged in an attempt to cheer his father who seemed deadly worried

"And I saved your life two minutes after you saved his" he answered with a sarcastic tune "But seriously now, be careful" he placed his hand on his shoulder

"You too, stay alive till we come back with the back up" Hal hugged him "Come on guys, we're leaving" Hal marched to one of the cliffs followed by Maggie, Anthony and Lyle

..

Almost nine kilometers A shadow of a teenage boy appeared a few meter away from the weapons factory, he carefully climbed the walls until he reached the top of factory where a girl was waiting in a shooting position pointed to the roof lantern of the factory with her frontal body on the ground"Hey, Mia?" Ben whispered

"Hey, what did you find?" the girl asked cursorily

"As you predicted, six men, two of them are sleeping and the rest are sitting, all armed" he replied still whispering

"Well, I can see them from my location, it's good we can handle six men if anything goes wrong" she added confidently

"Yeah, I asked three rebel skitters to grab their attention, I will climb down the rope and tie up some weapons which will be grabbed by the rest of rebel skitters, and you will be watching through your Remington M24, if you see anyone..."

"I will shoot" she interrupted

"Okay" he sat down with the same sitting attitude beside her "What is it you seem nervous?" he asked with concern

"I have never shot a human being in my life, they did nothing to us, I am just wondering if I will be able to do it if anything goes wrong"

"Well, let's hope it all goes well...you know we have to talk about it sooner or later, right?" he remarked

"What do you mean?" she asked still paying attention to the men

"You know...Lucas" he added hesitantly

"What about him?" she turned her sight to him

"Well last time you saw him you said you love him, and that you'll see him the day after... I guess what I am trying to say is I get it if you prefer to be with other team to save him than to be here"

"Ben, there's no other place in the world I would rather be but here, with you" she switched to her shooting position one more time "They're leaving only two remined, okay go in 3...2...1 now " she stated and Ben jumped into the factory from the roof lantern

..

Meanwhile, Hal and his team had already manged to get into the facility through the back door as planned and they were able to lead the group of harnessed kids reluctantly out of the building

"Hal, we moved two groups so far there are still seven more kids here and two other in the other room" Maggie informed her partner

"Well take them, I will get the last team and follow you" Hal ordered then walked to the other room while Maggie left with the other group "Come on" he got a hold of the two kids and took a few steps towards the door until he realized that Lucas isn't among the kids they saved "God!" he went back to every room in the facility that used to contain harnessed kids but found nothing, eventually he decided to follow Maggie and the others to meet up with the other team according to the plan, they almost walked half the distance and then the two kids stopped "What? No, hey hey we need to move" he tried to push them but they didn't move "Come on" he tried to push them one more time but again it was useless, he examined them closely and noticed that their spikes are glowing "Hal?" a girl called

"Who's there?" Hal turned around raising his gun but was stopped by the two harnessed kids

"Oh, there's no need to be scared Hal, I would never hurt you" the girl showed herself and it turned out to be Karen

"What do you want?" Hal asked furiously

"Nothing, I missed you" she placed her right hand on his cheek then started to move it slowly on his face then she placed her other hand on his other cheek and approached him slowly "tell Ben I will see him soon" she whispered then walked away

"No, Karen!" he shouted "Stay away from him, do you hear me?" he tried to follow her but was stopped by the harnessed kids who were holding him tight, suddenly something hit his head and he blacked out

...

By the same time in the Weapons factory, it was almost time for them to leave especially that they gathered a suitable amount of weapons, only Ben was supposed to get some grenades and they'll be good to go, unfortunately the stable wind failed to last till the end of their mission and a sound of explosion succeeded in drawing their attention especially that the sound came from the facility's direction, Ben turned to Mia with concern and she easily got the hint and moved away from her guarding position and checked the Northern direction with her sniper's lens to get a clearer image but the dust in the air wasn't in her favor, regardless she thought that in all case scenarios it means there was something wrong and they had to move fast

"Move, come on" Mia ordered the skitter rebels "We will follow you, now go, hurry" she stated and they left with the amount of weapon they already had gathered, she then tried to check Ben's location to declare that they need to move during her search she glanced a shadow a few meters away from Ben, she changed her position to get a clearer image and it turned out to be Lucas, the girl attempted to shoot the harnessed guy but she hesitated especially that only his head was visible which means that she will sign his death warrant if she decides to shoot, with no other choice the girl decided to give up her shooting position and climbed down the rope to the factory

...

"Hal?" Maggie tried to wake up her partner who was lying on the floor "Hal, come on" she added one more time and he finally opened his eyes

"Ben, where's Ben?" he asked as soon as he regained his conscious

"He's with shooter, and his team showed up a couple of minutes earlier " she explained

"Is he here?"

"No, the weapons are, I tried to ask the rebel skitters when they returned about them but I didn't quite get what they were trying to say, but they seemed calmed so I guess it's fine"

"It's not fine, I have to go to the factory" Hal tried to stand

"What is it?"

"It's Ka... listen you have to trust me on this I have to go" he insisted and started to walk towards the factory's direction

"Hal there was an explosion we need to pack the other team up" she explained which caused him to stop

...

Ben Tried to walk to the other side where the grenades were stored without alerting the men, naturally he didn't pay attention to Lucas who was following him or Mia who was following them both, he was simply trying to get what he needed to help his father's team especially after the explosion, Mia's condition was no better she failed to think clearly or to make up her mind since she can't attack Lucas cause she doesn't have a clear shoot with both of them moving and even if she did she would alert the men to their location, but then again she had to warn Ben otherwise he will be easily taken out by Lucas. her thoughts were interrupted when Lucas was about to attack Ben seizing the best of the situation

"BEN WATCH OUT!" the girl warned carelessly which grabbed not only Lucas and Ben't attention but also the men in the factory, as a result Lucas attacked her instead and she tried to shoot him, now that she has a clearer target but Lucas effortlessly disarmed Mia however she was assisted by Ben who tried to move him away but Lucas easily pushed him away, on the other hand Mia jumped on his back in an attempt to slow him down till Ben attacks but he threw her against the wall in an instant knocking her out

"Who's there?" one of the men shouted and they started to fire to their direction, eventually Lucas fled away and Ben ran to Mia and used his body as a shelter to protect her from the gun bullets and closed his eyes, almost three minutes after they seized fire and LUCKILY none of them were hurt "Well.. well what do we have here?" Ben opened his eyes and found two men pointing their guns at them


	4. Keep ur friends close & ur secret closer

"I told you, we weren't here to hurt any of you, we were simply gathering some weapons" Ben tried to clarify with his hands tied while being locked in a cage with two men on the other side along with Mia who was still unconscious

"Eight missing guns, twelve riffle, twenty box of bullets? sounds like way more than some" one of the two men replied

"Well it's the truth, we just needed the weapons for our battles with the espheni" the boy explained

"You keep saying we, who are you?" the man asked trying to understand the situation

"Well we started as a group of survivors who band together to fight back the invasion, we call ourselves the Second Massachusetts but currently we settled in a small town called Charleston"

"It's not really my call here kid but I think you're harmless, we need to wait for our boss to return and he can decide your fate" the man comforted "My name is Jackson"

"I am Ben... I am sorry, I know I am in no place to ask or make any requests here but how is she?" he asked referring to Mia

"I can tell you she's still breathing, her head is bleeding thought but it's not very deep" the other man replied while examining her

"Can you do something about it? please?" Ben begged

"Sorry kid I have zero experiences in this field, I cleaned her injury but we don't even have bandages" the man explained "perhaps, you can tell me what more can be done here?"

"I don't know , but there's a doctor in Charleston... I know it's stupid to ask but I have to take here there, it might be fatal she's been out for almost thirty minutes now" Ben begged again, naturally it was a dumb request but surprisingly Jackson walked to the cage to open it "My son is almost your age so I will let you go, but you will leave without any weapons" he grabbed the lock

"What the hell is going on here?" three men came in

"Hugo? Well these kids tried to steal our weapons earlier, he claims they live in a town where people fight the invasion" Jackson explained to one of the men, who was clearly the boss he had mentioned

"Is that so?" the man mocked "And may I ask why were you about to free our prisoners?"

"Listen, you have plenty of weapons here, we intended no harm and beside I believe you're still alive here with no one to bother you because of us" Ben answered himself

"Didn't your mother teach you to remain silent when grownups are speaking boy?" the man shouted at Ben

"Hugo, the thing is the girl is probably dying and I think he's telling the truth we should try to save her" Jackson tried to persuade Hugo

"Wanna a REAL thing here Jackson, our attention was drown out by a group of the aliens he's claiming to fight, he's working with them" Hugo argued back and all sights were turned to Ben

"Is that true?" Jackson asked but Ben remained silent

"He probably attacked the girl himself" he opened the cage and grabbed Ben's hair "Did you see his back?" he pointed to Ben's spikes"These were given to him by the aliens, I know cause my daughter had them, and she killed our entire family including my wife" he pointed his gun to Ben's head but still grabbing his hair with the other hand "No hard feelings kid, I know it's not your fault but you have to die"

"Stop!" Hal shouted with his M4A1 pointed to Hugo "Drop your gun, NOW"

"Don't make me laugh boy, you come here alone facing six men and think you can give me orders" he teased then seized Ben, intending to use him as a human shield still pointing the gun to his head

"Who said anything about being alone?" Maggie appeared with her gun also pointed to Hugo "Listen, no one needs to get hurt we will just walk away with them" she stated

"You don't get to put the terms here" another man showed up right behind Maggie with his riffle " Now be a good girl and put down your gun"

"Why don't you drop it" Mia ordered,pointing her gun to the man who examined her earlier and they all turned their sight to her

"Mia, are you okay?" Ben asked with concern

"Yeah, I have been conscious for a while now, just waiting for the right moment" she demonstrated "I won't repeat my words, let him go" Mia ordered one more time and Hugo released him

"Come on Ben" Hal stated and Ben stood behind him "Shooter!" he pointed out and Mia walked to their side as well, with all of their guns still pointed except for Ben who's hands were still tied "Listen, my brother wasn't lying earlier, if you would like to join us march to the west, the city is about five kilometers from here but I will give you a warning though, we still need weapons so I assure you, we will meet soon" Hal warned the other party and they marched backwards till the got out of the factory and reached their bikes "Are you okay buddy?" Hal asked while cutting off Ben's hand ties

"Yeah" he nodded "Why did you come? you're supposed to be with dad"

"Your brother was worried about you, we told the rest of our team to handle our mission"Maggie explained

"Well we need to get to them, they wouldn't be able to communicate with the rebels without me and they might need our help" Ben argued

"Yeah, we need to hurry" Mia agreed then almost collapsed briefly after but was helped by Maggie

"You're in no condition to fight" Maggie stated "I am sorry but you will only get in the way"

"We need to get you to Charleston" Ben announced

"No, you need to go to team alpha, you have said it yourself you're the only one who can communicate with the rebels" Hal interrupted "Maggie, take Ben to the facility and I will take shooter back to Charleston" Hal ordered and both parties left to their destination, almost fifteen minutes later Hal reached to Charleston then carried Mia to one of the buildings

"Hal?" Matt called out "Where's dad?"

"He's fine don't worry, where's captain Weaver?"

"In the meeting room, what's wrong with Shooter"

"She will be fine, I'll take her to Doctor Glass, now go back to your location" Hal ordered and Matt left

"Don't take me to the infirmary Hal, please" Mia whispered

"Mia? it's not the right time to be stubborn" he tried to convince her

"Please, I just need to rest, I promise if I don't get better I will ask Lourdes for help"

"Fine" he took out a deep breath and walked to her room then put her to bed "Do you need anything?"

"Thank you" she smiled then placed her head on the pillow

"Umm Mia about Lucas, he wasn't among the kids that we found today, I tried to find him but he just wasn..."

"I know" she interrupted

"How do you know?"

"He was the one who attacked us" she explained

"I see, well I will leave you to rest then"

"Hal, again please don't tell Ben I asked you to find Lucas"

"Don't worry, I will tell no one" he replied then left to the meeting room "Captain Weaver?"

"Hal? What are you doing here!" Captain Weaver wandered

"We faced some casualties, Ben and Shoo..."

"They're here, Ben and dad" Matt informed them with the news then ran to his father followed by Hal and Weaver

"Alright, take the harnessed kids to the infirmary along with the wounded!" Tom stated and all people marched to help

"Hal?"Ben called out "We found them heading back to the town when we were on our way" Ben explained to his brother who nodded "Where's Mia?"

"She's in her room sleeping, don't worry" he replied and Ben took a few stops away

"Ben!" his father called causing him to stop "We need your help with the harnessed kids, head to the infirmary" he ordered and Ben nodded then left "Don't worry captain, aside from some casualties all went according to the plan" Tom explained to Weaver

"Good job!"Weaver placed his hand on Tom's shoulder and smiled, then they both marched to the infirmary to help Anne

"Dad, a word !" Hal interrupted "It's urgent"

"What is it Ha?l" Tom asked then walked to one side of the room with his son

"I met Karen today"

"Karen!"

"Yeah, she ..she showed up when I was taking the harnessed kids to the meeting point"

"Did she do something to you?"

"No, no it's Ben, she... said tell Ben I will see him soon"

"That's why you left your team! Hal I know it's much to ask but I need you to keep this between us, if your brother finds out he will try to leave again in order not to endanger us and we wouldn't be able to protect him"

"I know, but we need to keep an eye on him all the time"

...

"Mia?" Ben petted the girl's head

"Ben" she opened her eyes "You're here!"

"I have been here for three hours now, watching you, but I have to leave so I thought I should wake you up to give you these" he handed her some pills "Lourdes, said they will make you feel better"

"Lourdes?" she raised her eyebrows

"I assure you it wasn't your aunt, so please take them and try to see Lourdes soon"

"I intend to, promise, now back to you leaving, this is the fifth time this week so I have to ask"

"I know, listen no one should know okay, not even my dad but the rebels are trying this new thing"

"What is it?"

"You know how they have been recruiting other rebels, well we 're trying to develop a harnessing machine on our own, so we can use it on Karen that way.."

"You will be controlling the new overlord and therefore all the ones beneath her, that's genius!" she said cheerfully

"Well, now that you know, I have to go"

"Take care" Ben kissed her forehead then left

"Hey Ben, where are you going?" Hal crossed paths his brother along with Maggie

"I need to meet up with the rebels" Ben answered

"Well, I will walk you there with Maggie, we have a patrol now anyway"

"Sure" they all walked, about 2 kilometers away from town Lucas appeared behind one of the trees keeping an eye towards Hal and the others, Ben felt something so he turned around suddenly

"Is everything fine?" Hal asked

"Yeah, I just thought I heard something" they resumed walking


	5. Backwards To the Future

"Hey Ben!" Hal called out grabbing his brother's attention as he was about to leave what seems to be like a deserted building

"Hal? What are you doing here?" Ben wondered and his brother proceed towards his location followed by Maggie who was a few steps away

"We have just finished our patrol, and well we weren't far from here so we came" Hal tried to make up a valid alibi to convince his brother

"You have just finished? it's been almost five hours now, it's almost dawn"

"We found some skitters by the east and we had to make sure that they're not headed to the city" Maggie replied

"Well let's go then" Ben suggested then started walking and his action was copied by his brother but Maggie grabbed his left arm so he stopped

"I backed you up earlier, but I'll get to the bottom of this Hal" Maggie released his arm

"Why did you stop? is everything alright?"Ben turned to Maggie and Hal who were still standing

"Yeah, we're cool" Hal replied then followed Ben along with Maggie "So what are the rebels up to these days?"

"Just the same, but the new leader is mo..." Ben suddenly stopped talking

"Ben?" Hal asked confusingly

"What is it?" Maggie asked

"There's something near us" Ben replied then closed his eyes

"Is it skitters?" Hal wondered

"No, harnessed kids maybe" Ben answered with his eyes still closed

"Is it Karen" Hal inquired but received no answer "Ben if it's Karen then we need to go"

"Hal stop talking" Ben requested "It's getting closer" Ben's spikes glowed

"Okay, now we really need to go" Hal grabbed his IMI Galil "Maggie" he turned to her and she grabbed her pistols

"Hal please I am trying to conc..."Ben was attacked in an instant by Lucas who thrusted him hardly to the ground, Hal grabbed his shoulder and tried to punch him but Lucas easily dodged his fist then slammed his elbow to Hal's stomach making him fall to his knees

"Don't make me do it!" Maggie threatened with her pistol pointed to Lucas, however without any hesitation Lucas attacked her but was stopped by Ben who choke hold him trying to knock him out but Lucas flipped him over then picked up Ben with his left hand and gripped him by the throat, holding him dangling off the floor

"I tried to warn you" Maggie shot Lucas's left arm, causing him to drop Ben who tried to gasp for oxygen then she knocked Lucas out after kicking him in the head

"Nice, move !" Hal smiled then helped Ben up " are you okay man?" Ben nodded , "we should to take him back" Hal suggested

"Well we need to do it fast, I don't want to face _that_ again" Maggie added

"No kidding he's like teenage version of Clark Kent" the eldest Mason mocked and both brothers carried the teenager's body

..

"Need any help?" Mia appeared just behind Pope who was cleaning his weapon

"Dammit girl ! you scared the shit out of me!" Pope complained

"Sorry"

"Whatever, what is it prom queen?" he frowned

"I was searching for Denny, do you know where she is?"

"You know me, I am not really into ceratosaurus's back"

"I am aware but you're still into gossip , so..."

"I don't have that kind of luxury giving the circumstances, but if it helps she's three feet behind you" he informed her then she walked towards the de-harnessed teenager

"Denny?"

"Shooter? how's your injury Ben told me you ran into a small incident in your last mission"

"Good, thanks for asking" she replied with a smile

"So, what is it?"

"Aren't you supposed to be with Ben, he told me that you're applying some new things with the rebels"

"Listen Shooter, I am part of the rebellion but Ben is one of the oldest members there beside with the new rumor about his father along with his original position Ben knows a lot more than me, naturally he's more involved"

"What do you mean? what rumor"

"You know, Tom being president" Denny explained

"I thought, it was just a sil..."

"Shooter, they're back Hal and Ben along with that guy who used to play in you school's team" Matt interrupted

"Lucas!" she added clearly shocked

"Yeah, that's him and they were asking Denny for help, let's go" the boy resumed talking, then they all marched to the outer gate, Denny and Matt joined the others in transferring Lucas but Mia stood in her place

"Mia?" Ben walked towards the girl "come on we might need your help taming him"

"I, umm ...well " she tried to say something but words failed to aide her

"Actually I wanted to speak to her, we agreed to talk after my patrol, it's urgent, about our next mission to the weapon factory since she was in no condition to give us a report earlier due to her injury" Hal interrupted their conversation

"Ben!" Denny called

"I am coming" he answered Denny then turned to Mia and Hal "Fine I just thought you would prefer to be here, guess I will see you later then"Ben left to the infirmary

"Shall we?" Hal started to walk outside the gates followed by Mia

"Thank you"

"No worries, I can imagine how awkward it would have been if you stayed there" he teased

"You're evil mister!" they both stared at each other for a couple of seconds then busted out laughing

"Do you remember the first mission we had?" Hal started to march again

"We went to collect clothes from old buildings" she laughed "And somehow back then it felt like we're saving the universe"

"It was you, me, Hope and Karen"

"Yeah, now Hope is dead and we're fighting Karen" she added sarcastically

"It feels like ages ago, but I liked those missions"

"Me too, I particularly liked to gather dresses for small girls, it's like we could bring them some joy to them in a dull world"

"Well then let's go"

"Where?"

"You know, to bring some clothes there's a couple of houses only few meters away"

"I don't know" she bit her lips "Tell you what...race you there" they both started running until they reached one of the houses and Hal clearly won the race

"And the winner is Hal Mason everyone... thank you...thank you" he started to brag

"Whatever" she entered the house then walked to the second floor "I will check this room" she pointed to one of the rooms

"Fine, I will check this" they both departed and checked the rooms, about ten minutes later Hal walked to the room that Mia is supposedly checking "Nothing seems useful there, I guess it was the parents room" he entered and Mia was holding a sundress "Didn't you have a dress like this back in school?"

"Yeah, it seems she had loads of dresses, look at that" she showed him a prom dress "Still has it's price tag"

"Maybe you should take it, I think the size will match you" Hal suggested

"Me? no, no way"

"Fine, I will" he grabbed the prom dress

"No, leave it" she grabbed the sundress "I will take this

"Suite yourself"

...

"It's time, we need to move" Karen's spikes were glowing and one of the skitters bowed


	6. Some Answers & More Questions

"Still no sign of them?" Maggie asked grabbing Ben's attention who was sitting by a tree a few meters from Charleston's entrance

"No _p_ e" he replied stressing on the P

"Well, it's still too early to be worried" she remarked then joined him

"I guess, it's just that it wasn't the right time, Hal could have waited"

"What was his excuse to speak to her again?"

"Excuse?" Ben raised his eye brows

"Come on Ben, Hal didn't really care about the info, he just noticed that Shooter wasn't emotionally ready for all of this" the blonde elaborated

"What do you mean?"

"It was awkward for her so he wanted to spare her, you don't have a lot of experience when it comes to girls right?"

"Not really, Hal is _waaay_ better than me"

"I figured, anyway they've gone for almost three hours now, if they don't show up in the next fifteen minutes I guess your dad will send a patrol"

"Looks like we don't have to wait that long" Ben pointed out declaring their arrival

Hal showed up along with Mia, both carrying a huge pile of clothes "A little help here" Hal complained and they both helped them

"So what did we miss?" Mia wondered teasing Ben who just smiled

"Lunch! and if we stay here longer we would miss Dinner as well" Maggie explained

"Oh ! please no, I am soooo hungry" Hal complained

"Me too, Ben can you take care of the clothes and follow me to our room? I wanna show you something" she added cheerfully

"Sure" he took the rest of the clothes from her then they parted in two different directions

"So how is Lucas? did he make it?" Hal asked

"He's fine" Ben answered coldly

"But we're not!" Maggie added "He regained his conscious when Anne was removing his harness so Ben, Denny, Me, Tom and weaver tamed him down and I think Lourdes helped too at some point"

"Guess we have one more super hero here"Hal mocked

"So it would seem" Ben said firmly "Hey what about placing the clothes here?"

"I guess it's fine, all the people have to pass here at some point" Hal replied

"Good" he dropped the clothes then left

"What's wrong with him?"

Ben walked back to his room then waited for a couple of minutes until he decided to knock

"Come in" Ben walked in and she was wearing the sundress she found earlier "So?"

"It looks like a dress that used to wear in school, same color but yours had a different pattern"

"You actually remember" she smiled

"Yeah" he smiled back " so you never asked about Lucas"

"I.. umm.. well I just figured if something went wrong you would have told me, so he must be fine"

"He is, he's currently in the infirmary"

"Glad he's fine, but I don't think I will see him since Anne would probably be there"

"I figured, but Anne told me earlier that he would mostly join us at dinner, you can see him there"

"Honestly, I am more tired than hungry so I will probably just sleep" she said while sitting on their bed

"You know you can't keep postponing this, right?"

"Ben I am not trying to postpone anything, I just think he's been through a lot and I don't want to be another reason to hurt his feelings"

"I know, but have you considered mine in all of this?"

"What do you mean ?"

"I don't know maybe I didn't want to wait for three hours thinking that maybe you and Hal are dead, maybe I didn't want you to lie to me about your reason for going in the first place, maybe missing meals when you're starving just because you don't want to see him doesn't really make sense to me, but you know what I really don't like, it's the fact that you have been acting guilty that we're dating, it's like we were only fine cause he wasn't around and you're doing your best trying not to mess this up" Ben took a deep breath "I never doubted you Mia, that's why I never hesitated to save him"

"You're right, I didn't think about all of this, I am sorry"

"I don't want you to be sorry Mia, I just wished you had told me" he sat next to her

"I will speak to him the first thing in the morning, I will tell him everything" she placed her head on his shoulder and he nodded

"But I really like that dress" he attempted to make her smile and she did

"Come on go, you'll miss dinner"

"It's okay, I am not even hungry" he placed his hand around her waist "try to sleep soon, we have a long day tomorrow"

"I will read for a while, it's still early"

"Okay" he stood up

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah" he replied "I will probably be out all night"

"Ben, I am worried about all of this, I understand it's for a greater cause but please take care"

"Don't worry, you're the only person other than me that knows about it, so unless you decide to rat me out everything should be fine"

"You can try to convince me all night and I'd still be worried Ben"

"I promise you I will take care" he left

The girl took a deep breath then placed her head on the bed with her eyes opened wide for hours,she couldn't determine how long she stayed like this because she wasn't sure whether time was going fast or too slow, eventually she closed her eyes and somehow woke up in the same attitude in the morning, she looked around for Ben who clearly was still out, so she changed her clothes then walked around the town searching for Lucas until she found him sitting in the woods watching the river almost 500 feet away from town

"Lucas?"

"Mia!" he walked to her then hugged her for a while until she decided to hug him back

"Can I join you?"

"Please" they both sat down but remind awkwardly silent for a while until Mia decided to speak

"I really like the view"

"Yeah, it's perfect" he added "You don't come here with Ben?"

"Not really we have another secret place, aaaaaand you know"

"Yes, I heard Hal and that blonde girl speaking about it yesterday"

"Maggie!... well what else did you hear?"

"That you go by Shooter now"

"Not really it just sort of happened" she smiled "One day a guy named Pope started calling me Shooter and suddenly everybody started calling me by it"

"Honestly, I think I prefer Mia"

"I don't mind both, now that mention it I think Ben is the only one who still calls me by my name"

"So how did you end up together anyway?"

"On the day of the invasion Ben saved my life, as a result he was captured by the skitters,but we were able to retrieve him later on and remove his harness just like you"

"And you started dating!"

"No, we've started dating four months ago after his partner Jimmy was killed, back then Ben's health started to deteriorate and he was very sick and somewhere back then we started dating"

"I still remember the day of the invasion, it was the day you said I shouldn't worry about Ben or anyone else" he mocked and she was about to leave angrily but was stopped by Lucas "Mia, I am just kidding I didn't mean it"

"Lucas I do..."

"I know, you don't need to explain anything to me" he comforted "But you guys seem to be serious about it, I even heard you're sleeping together"

"Jeez! how much can you know in a couple of hours!"

"I know right!, it's like I can hear _everything_ "

"Yeah, it's your spikes, they give you some sort of super senses and FYI we're **NOT** sleeping together, we're just sharing the same room"

"And the same bed" he mocked

"Well yeah, a while ago when Ben was sick, Anne asked him to rest but ever since we saved him, he keeps on having those nightmares about being abducted one more time, so I told him that I wouldn't let anyone hurt him and he slept peacefully so we have been sharing a room since then"

"Wow! that's really convincing"

"Shut up!" she punched his shoulder

"So, I have this thing that I want to ask you about since no one seems to mention it"

"What?"

"Your father, did he make it?"

"No, and if he did I wouldn't know" she answered coldly

"So you're the only survival in your family?"

"Not really, Anne made it as well"

"Anne? your aunt?"

"Yes, the one who removed your harness"

"I remember You used to talk about her a lot and then you stopped even mentioning her name"

"We were so close, she used to visit us regularly especially that my mum wasn't there most of the time because of her job, then one day she got married and my mum told me that it would be hard for her to show up more often which was natural but then my mum died and she didn't even call and I was all alone, but after the invasion Anne lost her family and we met coincidentally after she joined the 2nd Massachusetts"

"But you don't talk"

"Honestly, it didn't seem fair to me, I adjusted on my own after my mother's death when I was only twelve, she shouldn't expect me to help her now"

"You know what isn't really fair about all of this?" he added seriously

"What!"

"I was going to ask you to prom, can you imagine how awful I feel right now" he protested "I even bought the tickets"

"What? this is like way more depressing than the whole invasion thing!" they started laughing "It's funny you would have asked me to prom when I was a sophomore and now that I am sixteen there's not even a prom to attend"

"Do you ever miss it? your old life"

"I used to think about it a lot but ever since I started dating Ben, I never did or I at least try not to, I wouldn't want him to misunderstand it"

"Sorry to interrupt but do you guys fight the skitters regularly?"

"All the time...why?"

"Nothing, but there are three Mechs, two beamers and five skitters on their way to the town as we speak"

"WHAT?"

"Sorry, only four skitters I am still new to the whole super hearing thing"


	7. The Two Edges of Battle

"What the hell is going on here?" Weaver walked towards Charleston's entrance followed by Tom, Hal and Maggie

"Well for a starter... I have no idea, one minute ago the scene was clear and now those lousy creatures seem to besiege the entire city" Pope explained referring to the beamers and mechs

"Besiege? you mean to tell me that they didn't attack?" Hal seemed confused

"Clear targets, only our defenses with no people around" Lee replied

"That's really odd" Tom remarked

"Odd or not I don't feel satisfied with these things moving around us and just because they didn't attack doesn't mean we won't, Pope you will lead the attack from the eastern side, I will lead the front line, Hal and Tom take a few men and lead the citizens to the underground shelters then get to the other side of city and cherish your weapons guys we barley have enough to make it through this attack" Weaver ordered and they all marched to their destination accordingly

"Dad are you okay?" Hal asked Tom who seemed distracted

"Last time they besieged the city we were holding an overlord and they feared to hurt him somehow, I can't imagine what kind of reason they would have to do this now" Tom explained, still marching followed by Hal

"You think they're trying to protect something?"

"I think they're searching for something, that's why these beamers keep scouting the place around without attacking" Tom suggested causing Hal to stop "Hal?"

"They're not searching for something... they're searching for someone!"

"They're searching for Ben"

...

About forty meters away from the city's border's Mia was observing the situation closely while hiding between some tree branches along with Lucas

"Why aren't they attacking? beside there're no sign of the skitters" Mia wondered

"The skitters are marching around the city, I can hear them" Lucas replied

"You've mentioned that they're only four right?"

"I believe so" he nodded

"Well" she handed him her gun "Take this and get back to the lake" she ordered

"What? No I will help you"

"Lucas you don't even know how to carry a gun, you would only get in the way"

"I don't have to attack I will back you up, I am stronger than you" he tried to convince her

"You're probably right, but I won't be able to think straight with you around, you will do me more harm than good"

"Fine" he took the gun

"Listen, you only have three bullets in your gun, so use them wisely, if you see a skitter try to hide and if you're forced to fight then aim for the head" she advised

"Aim for the head okay...stay alive Mia" he smiled then left

"You too Lucas" she whispered then walked slowly towards the city to get a clearer scene, after reaching to a good spot she checked the area then a sound of something snapping branches grabbed her attention " Hello?"

...

While the fighters were all in position about to attack, Tom was standing by one of the underground tunnels waiting for all the citizens to get inside to ensure their safety

"Come on, one by one" Tom instructed the citizens with Matt standing beside him "Come on get inside too Matt"

"But I want to help" he protested

"And you will, by making sure that nothing happens to Anne, now go" he kissed his forehead

"Fine" he followed the others clearly not satisfied

"Hey dad" Hal walked to his father "He wasn't in his room" he whispered

"What about Shooter?"

"Some people said they saw her leaving the city this morning"

"Mr. Mason, all the citizens are safely in the tunnels" Denny reported " Should we head to the southern borders of the city?"

"Yeah, take the others we'll catch up with you in a minute" Tom replied and Denny left with Maggie and the others leaving Hal and Tom alone

"You don't think they caught him right?" Hal asked

"They would have attacked by now, whenever we're done with this, I need you to take Maggie and search for him, let's just hope we get to him first"

...

"Who's there?" Mia pointed her sniper riffle towards the sound source

"Don't shoot! It's me" Ben warned revealing himself

"Ben!" she hugged him

"What's going on here?"he asked referring to the attack

"I have no idea, I was sitting by the lake with Lucas, then he said he could hear skitters, beamers and mechs heading towards the city, so we came"

"He could hear them from the lake?" he asked surprisingly and she nodded

"He also said that the skitters are marching around the city, we need to warn your dad"

"I see, tell me how many bullets do you have?"

"Two bullets for my sniper"

"What about your gun?"

"Three, but I gave it to Lucas"

"Fine, how about we make a trade?" he gave her his Koch G36K "Give me your knife?"

"What are you doing?"

"Mia, you only have two bullets and I have one, we don't have the luxury of wasting any of them and since you're a better shooter than me you should have them"

"We're going to join your dad then we will both have enough bullets, so take your gun back"

"Mia, the beamers are scouting the whole area we will NEVER reach the city alive, we can only help them from here"

"Yeah, but the second I shoot one of these skitters the rest will head towards our location and you will be defenseless especially that I can only take three of them down"

"I will only be in danger if you miss, and you won't" he placed his hands on her shoulders "You have got this" he comforted "beside I have two knives I wouldn't be defenseless"

"Okay" she climbed one of the tree's to get a clearer target (which she easily did due to her experience as a gymnast) till she reached one of the tree branches and took her shooting attitude "The skitters are trying to get into the city from the southern borders and your father is there with some fighters trying to stop them" she whispered and Ben nodded informing her that he could hear her because of his sharp senses, "Here we go" she took a deep breath then fired the first shoot taking one of the skitters down with a bullet in the head which didn't only trigger the enemy's attention but also Tom and the others

 _"What the hell?"_ Hal wondered but his voice could barley be heard by Mia

 _"It's Shooter!"_ Denny added cheerfully since she was the only one who could see her, as expected the skitters ditched the city and moved towards Mia and Ben's location but Tom and the others tried to stop them and they could by shooting two of them leaving only one to slip away , shockingly the skitter didn't march towards them but rather walked to one of the hills and howled causing the mechs to move to their location since Captain Weaver and the berserkers were able to take down the beamers by then

"No, no...no" Mia whispered and was about to fire the second shoot to take down one of the mechs but she was interrupted by Ben screaming and placing his hands on his ears "Ben?" she climbed down the tree and walked to him "Ben, I am here" she tried to calm him down but he kept screaming

"Stay away from me!" Ben begged while hallucinating that Karen was the one talking to him not Mia

"Come on Ben, stay awake" Karen ordered but it was actually Mia who was talking "Ben, we need to move please" she begged then placed her hands on his to prevent him from hearing the sound "Come on please!"

"I said stay away" he shouted then pushed Mia

"Fine" she climbed the tree one more time and fired the second shoot taking down the last skitter then she climbed down to check on Ben who seemed to have stopped screaming "Ben, are you okay?"

"Yeah" he said trying to catch his breath

"We need to move" she helped him up

"WATCH OUT" he guarded her from the mech that was standing right behind her which caused the mech to stop

"Get down" Lucas jumped on the mech and destroyed it by smashing the mech's back that contained the harness controlling it "Are you sure you don't need my help?" he teased Mia then the other mech showed right behind him but was destroyed by Ben

"Yes, she's sure" Ben replied "Let's go" he marched to the city followed by Mia and Lucas

"Ben?" Tom walked to Ben "Where were you?" he asked angrily

"Walking with Mia" he lied and Mia gave him a "what the hell look"

"Can you try to be more careful? with this rate you will get yourself killed along with ev..." Hal shouted but was stopped by Tom

"Along with Shooter, just try to consider your actions more" Tom advised

"I am sorry " Ben apologized

"You're okay right?"

"Yes" he replied "Can I go to my room" Ben asked and Tom nodded then he left to his room followed by Mia

"What's wrong?" she closed the door

"What happened to me a week ago? when I had a fever ?"

"Umm Anthony said u were followed by esphenies then you fell on your head and most probably were bitten, he said that's what you kept mumbling anyway"

"So no one was there?"

"No, I don't think so, honestly the whole thing was odd but nobody cared, we were glad you're fine"

"What if I am not fine?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think I saw Karen that day! but I can't remember what happened"

"Okay now you really need to tell your dad" she suggested but he didn't reply "Fine I will tell him" she walked towards the door but was stopped by Ben

"Don't, I will, just give me a couple of days till I figure out what happened"

...

Meanwhile Karen was standing by the ruins of the mechs "Good! everything is going according to the plan" she smiled


End file.
